Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Stereotypes overshadow fraternities’ philanthropic efforts

An interesting look at how "real world" people view fraternity members.

All too often the positive merits of a fraternity are overshadowed by assumptions of hazing, childish pranks and crushing beer cans against our heads after a game of beer pong.

What people don’t hear about is the thousands of hours of community service we contribute every year or the large amounts of money we raise for our respective philanthropies.

They don’t hear SigEp saves hundreds of lives a semester through their blood drive with United Blood Services. They don’t hear that Sigma Nu raises tens of thousands of dollars for St. Jude Foundation in their Chipping for Charity philanthropy.[...]Instead of wearing Greek letters that day at the airport, I was sure I had mistakenly strapped dynamite to my chest and had two horns protruding out of my forehead while carrying a pitchfork. How I managed to get that far into the airport is beyond me. A part of me was half-expecting to be blindsided and subsequently tased by an overweight TSA guard.